User’s Manual: Tecplot 360 2023 Release 1

The menu bar offers access to Tecplot 360 features.

Tecplot 360’s features are organized into the following menus:

In many places within Tecplot 360, clicking with the right mouse button displays a context menu that gives you quick access to just the operations most relevant to what you’re clicking. Often, these operations are also available in some other way, such as using a toolbar button, the pull-down menus, or a dialog.

In the Tecplot 360 workspace, the following objects have context menus with the specified functions:

When working with zones, slices, and iso-surfaces, a context toolbar appears above the context menu. This toolbar allows you to turn on or off the grid, contour, vector, shade, edge, and translucency layers for the selected object(s) by clicking the icons. (Iso-surfaces do not have vector or edge layers.) Additionally, you may adjust frequently-used style settings for each layer using the drop-down menu to the right of each icon, for example selecting a color for the grid (or choosing a variable by which to color it).

A different context toolbar appears when you right-click a line in XY or polar line plots. This toolbar allows you to turn on or off the line, symbol, and error bars for the selected line map by clicking the icons. You can also adjust the attributes of these (for example, line color, symbol shape, or error variable) using drop-down menus to the right of each icon.

When a geometry object is right-clicked, the Geometry context menu appears. This menu allows you to Cut, Copy, Delete the object as well as adjust the line and fill attributes. When multiple geometries are selected, the Alignment of the objects can be adjusted as well.

Right-clicking on a Text object brings up the Text context menu. This menu allows you to Cut, Copy, Delete the object as well as change the alignment or open the Text details dialog. You can also adjust the text attributes such as bold, italics, color, and text angle.

In some places, such as in the Mapping Style and Zone Style dialogs, right-clicking is the primary way to alter the displayed data.

Tecplot 360’s three main sidebars provide easy access to frequently-used functionality:

Initially, the Plot and Pages sidebars appear "docked" on the left side of the workspace—attached to the left side of the plot area. The Frames sidebar is initially hidden, but appears on the left side of the workspace when enabled using the View menu.

Any visible sidebar may be moved to the right side of the workspace, or even dragged out of the workspace entirely (for example, to move it to another display) by dragging its title bar.

When more than one sidebar is docked to the same side of the workspace, they can be combined in two ways:

Which style is used depends on where you dock the second sidebar: drag to the top or bottom of the already-docked sidebar to split the area, or drag to the middle to combine them and use tabs to switch between them.

Additional sidebars are available for certain other features throughout Tecplot 360. For example, the Quick Macro Panel is a sidebar that initially appears docked to the right side of the workspace. Like the other sidebars, it may be "torn off" from the window or share space with another sidebar. The Probe Sidebar is another; it displays the results of probe operations.

Any sidebar may be closed if it is in your way. To open it again, choose the desired sidebar from the appropriate menu, or right-click any sidebar or the menu bar and choose the desired sidebar from the context menu.

Each of the tools represented in the Toolbar changes the mouse mode and allows you to interactively edit your plot.

The Toolbar is actually up to four separate toolbars, with buttons grouped by function.

In the default toolbar configuration, shown above, the toolbars appear next to each other. Each, however, can be moved independently to any edge of the workspace by grabbing the drag handle at the left edge of the toolbar. To hide or show a toolbar, right-click the menu bar and choose the desired toolbar.

The status line appears along the bottom of the Tecplot 360 window to provide a progress bar and other information when Tecplot 360 computes lengthy calculations. Other "hints," such as coordinates and tips for using the currently-selected tool, also appear here.

In the Tecplot 360 workspace, you can create sketches and plots. You create each sketch or plot within a frame. Each visible measure of the workspace is called a page. The current state of the workspace, including the sizing and positioning of frames, the number and contents of pages, the location of the data files used by each frame, and all current attributes for all frames, makes up a layout. By default, the workspace displays a representation of where the paper plots are drawn, as well as a reference grid and rulers. The frame most recently selected is called the active frame.

You can include multiple pages in your layout, each of which can contain multiple frames. Use the Pages Sidebar (open it from the View menu if it’s not visible) to create and manage pages.

Tecplot 360 always displays data in a window called a "frame". By default, Tecplot 360 opens one frame when you launch Tecplot 360 or open a new layout, but you can display multiple plots concurrently in Tecplot 360 by adding additional frames. You can add frames to the workspace using the Frame menu. You can display one dataset in one frame, or you can share one dataset between multiple frames. Using the same dataset in multiple frames allows you to generate different plots of the same data. To learn more about working with frames, see Frames.

Frames appear on pages. You can manage multiple pages in Tecplot 360 using the Pages Sidebar and macro commands in the default Quick Macro Panel. Each page has its own collection of frames.

A dataset is defined as "all of the data in a frame". To create a dataset, load one or more data files into an empty frame in Tecplot 360, or create a zone in a frame.

A zone represents a subset of a dataset. A dataset can be composed of a single zone or several zones. Zones are either defined in a data file or created directly in Tecplot 360. The number of zones in a dataset is the sum of the number of zones in each of the data files included in the dataset, plus any zones created within Tecplot 360.

Typically, a data file is divided into zones based on its physical coordinates. For example, a dataset of an airplane may consist of a zone for each wing, each wheel, the nose, etc. Alternatively, zones may be defined based on the material. For example, a dataset of a fluid tank may have a zone for the tank itself and additional zones for each fluid inside the tank.

The active frame, indicated by default with a darker and thicker border, is the frame in your workspace affected by all operations you do in Tecplot 360. To make a frame the active frame, click anywhere inside that frame with the Selector tool (or any other tool except the Create New Frame tool). Reference the following sections for additional actions you can perform on frames.

To create a new frame, which you can use to display a new dataset or another view of an already-loaded data set, select the New Frame button in the toolbar. Or select "Create New Frame" from the Frame menu. Selecting either the New Frame tool or "Create New Frame" in the Frame menu will change your selector tool into a small + symbol. Click with this tool in your workspace where you want one corner of your new frame, and drag across the workspace to where you would like the opposite corner of your new frame.

The Edit Active Frame dialog (accessed from the Frame menu) allows you to adjust the dimensions and style of your active frame. When you are working with multiple frames, select a frame with your selector tool to make that frame active. Then select "Edit Active Frame" from the Frame menu to adjust the position and properties of that frame.

You can size and position a frame using your mouse, the keyboard, or a dialog. To use only your mouse, select the frame to activate the resizing handles (black boxes on the edges and corners of the frame). Click and drag on a handle to resize a frame, or click and drag on an edge in a location without a handle to change the frame location. To specify size or position with a dialog, select "Edit Active Frame" from the Frame menu.

In the Edit Active Frame dialog, you may specify the exact location for the frame’s left and top sides, along with width and height.

The units in the Frame Dimensions region of the dialog are based on the units set for the Ruler Spacing in Options→Ruler/Grid.

After selecting frames, you may position them using the arrow keys on your keyboard. You can move frames up, down, left, or right in one-pixel increments for precise location.

Use the Edit Active Frame dialog (accessed from the Frame menu) to adjust the frame border or header.

Toggling-off Show Border makes the frame border invisible. Use the Thickness box in the Edit Active Frame dialog to adjust the line thickness of the border.

Remember that Tecplot 360 uses a thicker border to indicate The Active Frame, so making borders thicker can make it become more difficult to determine which frame is active.

The frame header displays when both "Show Border" and "Show Header" are toggled-on. If you turn off the border by toggling-off "Show Border", the header turns off as well.

The frame header contains user-configurable information which defaults to:

where FrameName is the frame’s name, date is the date the frame was created or revised, and DataSetTitle is the title of the active dataset. You can change these defaults in your configuration file using the $!GLOBALFRAME command (see the Scripting Guide).

Select the Color box in the Edit Active Frame dialog (accessed from the Frame menu) to adjust the frame background color. Toggle-off "Show Background" to set the frame background to transparent.

Enter text in the Frame Name region of the Edit Active Frame dialog (accessed from the Frame menu) to change the name of the active frame. The text entered here is displayed as the name of the frame.

The Set Links for Active Frame dialog, accessible through Frame→Frame Linking, allows you to link specific style attributes either between frames or within a frame. Linking between frames, on the Between Frames page of the dialog, allows you to quickly make changes in one frame and propagate them to a number of other frames. Linking within frames, on the Within Frame page, links attributes between similar objects within a frame.

Use the Between Frames page of the Set Links for Active Frame dialog (accessed from Frame→Frame Linking) to link the following attributes (shown below):

The Within Frame page of the Set Links for Active Frame dialog (shown below) allows you to link the following attributes:

Settings changed on this dialog take effect immediately. You may also apply the settings to all frames or just to selected frames using the buttons in the dialog.

Delete a frame by selecting the frame and then choosing Edit→Delete or pressing the Delete key. This action is not undoable.

Frames can overlap, and when they do, one is drawn in front of the other. You can think of the frames as a stack of papers pinned to a bulletin board. The order of frames can be managed by right-clicking a frame name in the Frames sidebar and choosing one of the following options.

The context menu in the Frames sidebar also contains an option to Activate the selected frame. This does not change the drawing order of the frame, but does make it The Active Frame.

You can save a frame’s style for later use or to share with another frame by selecting "Save Frame Style" in the Frame menu. This will open the Save Style dialog, in which you can name and save the style of your active frame as a stylesheet (with the extension .sty). Use the Load Frame Style action to retrieve your frame style in another frame or layout.

The following data is saved:

To load a saved frame style into your active frame, select "Load Frame Style" in the Frame menu. With the Load Frame Style dialog that appears, you can load a frame style saved from another frame (with the extension .sty) to dictate the frame attributes of your active frame. This will affect only the The Active Frame. To save a frame style, use the Save Frame Style function.

The following data is retrieved from the file and applied to the current frame:

Tecplot 360’s representation of paper in the workspace allows you to lay out plots precisely the way you want them printed. If you place a frame on the paper and print the resulting plot, the frame appears in the exact relative location on the printed paper.

You can control the size, orientation, and color of your paper by going to File→Paper Setup.

The workspace grid provides a convenient guide for placing objects on your paper. When placing text or geometric shapes, you can choose to snap the anchor points of the shapes to the grid. Rulers provide a reference length for sizing objects.

To customize the ruler/grid settings, select "Ruler/Grid" from the Options menu.

You may close a sidebar by clicking its close box. Once closed, you may reopen it by choosing the desired sidebar from the appropriate menu.

You may also show or hide a sidebar or a toolbar by right-clicking any toolbar (or the menu bar) and choosing the toolbar or sidebar you wish to show or hide from the context menu.

When "Auto Redraw" is toggled-off, click the Redraw button in the Plot sidebar to redraw the active frame.

There are two zoom modes: axis (dataset) zooming and paper zooming. To use either, first activate the Zoom tool from the Toolbar.

View→Fit Everything (Ctrl-E) resizes 3D Cartesian plots so that all data points, and all text and geometries positioned using grid coordinates, are included in the frame. By default, geometries use grid coordinates, while text objects use frame coordinates, so typically this means that Fit Everything fits geometries but not text objects, although if a text object has been set to use grid coordinates, it will be included. Use View→Data Fit to consider only data in the resizing.

View→Fit Surfaces(Ctrl-F) resizes 3D Cartesian plots so that all surfaces are included in the frame, excluding any volume zones. If there are no surfaces plotted, View→Fit Surfaces fits all data points, text, and geometries into the frame.

View→Fit to Full Size (Ctrl-F) resizes non-3D plots so that all zones or lines, geometries, and text fit within the frame.

View→Data Fit resizes the plot so all data points are included in the frame. Text and geometries are not considered. The text and geometries must be set to grid coordinates to be considered in the resizing.

View→Fit All Frames to Workspace (Ctrl-Shift-A) resizes all frames proportionally so the frame(s) fill the workspace either vertically or horizontally.

View→Nice Fit to Full Size (Ctrl-I) sets the axis range of 2D Cartesian, XY Line, and Sketch plot types to begin and end on major axis increments. If axes are dependent, the vertical axis length is adjusted to accommodate a major tick mark.

View→Make Current View Nice (Ctrl-K) modifies the range on a specified axis of 2D Cartesian, XY Line, and Sketch plots to fit the minimum and maximum of the variable assigned to that axis, then snaps the major tick marks to the ends of the axis. If axis dependency is not independent, this may affect the range on another axis.

Centers the plot within the frame. Only the data is centered; text, geometry, and the 3D axes are not considered. Neither the axes nor the plot is changed in size.

The Translate/Magnify dialog (accessed via the View menu), allows you to move and resize your plot within a frame. Translating using this dialog moves the image of your data with respect to the active frame. You can translate plots in any direction within a frame.

The following options are available in the Translate/Magnify dialog:

The Translate/Magnify tool (located in the Toolbar) allows you to translate/magnify the data within the frame or the entire workspace. Use the Shift key to translate/magnify the workspace instead of the data.

When the Translate/Magnify tool is active, type +/- on your keyboard to increase/decrease the scale of the image.

View→Last (Ctrl-L) restores the previous view. The "Last" command allows you to step backward through the resizings and repositionings of plots. Any time you change the view of a frame, either by zooming, centering, translating, or fitting the plot, the previous view is placed in a view stack. Each frame is allotted four view stacks, one for each plot type. Each view stack stores up to sixteen views, including the active view.

Available in the 3D Cartesian plot type only; calls up the Rotate dialog for image rotation. For further information, see Three-dimensional Rotation.

Available in the 3D Cartesian plot type only; calls up the 3D View Details dialog for setting the view position and angle of 3D objects. For further information, see Three-dimensional Rotation.

Use the View→Copy View menu option to copy the active frame view to the frame view buffer, where it can then be pasted to other frames having the same plot type. The copied view includes all the attributes of the view that are affected by the View menu: the amount of zoom, translation and scale, and (in 3D Cartesian plot type) the amount of rotation and perspective projection.

View→Paste View pastes a copied view onto the active frame. When you are working with multiple frames attached to the same dataset, it is often useful to make your view changes to one frame and then propagate those changes to the other frames.

All plot and mapping style modifications can be undone. In addition, you can undo a variety of other plot alterations. As a rule, Tecplot 360 allows undo for reversible operations that can be restored without significant impact on the operation’s performance. To undo an operation, select Undo from the Edit menu, or press Ctrl-Z in the workspace.

Specifically, the Undo option is allowed for the following conditions:

Edit→Cut or Ctrl-X removes the selected item from the plot and the active dataset (if applicable), and stores the removed item in the Paste buffer.

Edit→Copy or Ctrl-C stores the selected item in the Paste buffer but leaves it in your plot or the active dataset.

Use Edit→Paste or Ctrl-V to add the contents of the Paste buffer to the active plot. If the object is being copied into the same frame, the new object will be overlaid directly over the original object. Use the Selector or the Adjustor tool to move the copied item to different locations in the frame.

Remove the selected item from the plot and from the active dataset. Deleted items are not stored in the Paste buffer.

Pushes the selected item to the bottom of the active draw stack. The plot is drawn on your screen from the bottom of the draw stack to the top; elements lying further down in the stack may be partially obscured by elements higher up. The following types of objects may be pushed: text, geometries, 2D or XY grid areas, and frames.

Pop the selected item to the top of the active draw stack. The following types of objects may be popped: text, geometries, 2D, or XY grid areas, and frames.

For nodal ordered data, the n-dimensional array of values are treated as a one dimensional array. For example, given an IJK-ordered zone dimensioned by 10x20x30. To access the value at I=3, J=4, K=5 (one based) you would use:

For cell-centered ordered data, the index that represents the cell center is the same as the nodal index that represents the lowest indexed corner of the cell.

For example, the figure below shows an IJ-ordered zone dimensioned 3x4.

To access a cell-centered value for the cell in the upper right hand corner, use the following:

You’ll notice that the equations are exactly the same as with nodal data. As a result there are gaps of unused values at IMax, JMax, and KMax that must be left unassigned.

The above equation is generic for 1D, 2D and 3D data. It simplifies for the lower dimensions.

Values for XY Line plots are usually arranged in a one-dimensional array indexed by one parameter: I for I-ordered, J for J-ordered, or K for K-ordered, with the two remaining index values equal to one.

At each node, N variables (V1, V2, …​, VN) are defined. If you arrange the data in a table where the values of the variables (N values) at a node are given in a row, and there is one row for each node, the table would appear something like that shown below.

See XY and Polar Line Plots for more information on XY plots.

A family of I-lines results by connecting all of the points with the same I-index, similarly for J-lines and K-lines. For IJ-ordered data, both families of lines are plotted in a two-dimensional coordinate system resulting in a 2D mesh. When both the I and J-lines are plotted in a three-dimensional coordinate system, a 3D surface mesh plot results. An example of both meshes is shown below. As you can see, logical data points can transform into an arbitrary shape in physical space.

Working with finite element data has some limitations:

To use 3D volume irregular data in field plots, you must interpolate the data onto a regular, IJK-ordered zone. To interpolate your data, perform the following steps:

Once the interpolation is complete, you can plot the new IJK-ordered zone as any other 3D volume zone. You may plot iso-surfaces, volume streamtraces, and so forth. At this point, you may want to deactivate or delete the original irregular zone so as not to conflict with plots of the new zone.

Figure 9 shows an example of irregular data interpolated into an IJK-ordered zone, with iso-surfaces plotted on the resultant zone.

In most CFD data formats, it is valid to have multiple variables with the same name. When loading such a file, Tecplot 360 warns you that this situation exists and offers to load the variables by position: each variable will be identified by the order in which it appears in the file rather than by its name. This may make some aspects of working with the data different or more complicated.

For example, when manipulating data using equations, you must use the V# syntax to refer to such duplicate variables, rather than the {VariableName} syntax, as the latter cannot uniquely identify the variable. (See Data Alteration through Equations.) Macros and Python scripts may also be affected.

When possible, we advise obtaining a data file with a unique and consistent name for each variable, for example by adjusting your solver’s configuration.

You may append new data to your dataset at any time by choosing File→Load Data. You cannot append a grid file that contains only FE connectivity data without appending a solution file along with it. In addition, to append a solution file you must also append a grid file at the same time. In this case, the grid file must be loaded before the solution file.

Some loaders allow you to choose how you wish to append or replace data.

Depending on the circumstances, you may have the following choices:

In Tecplot 360, you can load multiple data files in two different ways:

The Variable Load and Combine dialog appears when loading multiple data files in certain formats, whether you load the files all at once or append new data to previously-loaded data, if the names of the variables in the data files do not match. The dialog allows you tell Tecplot 360 which variables (if any) have the same meanings across the files, as well as which variables should not be loaded at all.

This feature works only with data in the following formats:

The Variable Load and Combine dialog appears only when the files you are loading do not all contain exactly the same variable names (or, when appending, if the variable names in the file being loaded do not exactly match those of the data already loaded). When all variable names match in the files being loaded, this dialog does not appear; instead, Tecplot assumes that all the variables have the same meaning in all the files.

The dialog allows you to indicate that variables with different names have the same meaning (referred to as combining the variables) in two different ways.

The two methods can also be used together. For example, you might first apply a variable alias file that deals with the most common equivalent variables in your typical data sets, then clean up any remaining variables (uncommon variables, or variables that don’t always have a well-defined meaning) by hand.

The dialog has the following parts:

Variables that have the same name are automatically combined, as this is almost always what you will want to have happen. They appear in blue in the Variables to Load list. If you do not want this to happen, load the files one at a time and, before loading the file with duplicate variable names, rename the existing variables you do not want to combine with newly-loaded variables of the same name. (You can rename variables by double-clicking them in the Data Set Information dialog.

To combine two variables manually, telling Tecplot 360 that they have the same meaning, you select the first variable in the Available Variables list and the second in the Variables to Load list, then click the Combine button. The combined variable is added to the Variables to Load list and given a name consisting of both original variable names separated by a semicolon.

If the variables to be combined are in the Available Variables list, as may be the case when loading all the files at once instead of appending, select one in the Available Variables list and click Add Selected to select it to be loaded. Then combine them as above.

If there are more than two variables that have the same meaning, combine the first two, then select the combined variable in the Variables to Load list and combine it with the next variable having the same meaning in the Available Variables list as above.

You may combine multiple sets of variables at a time. If you select more than one variable in the Available Variables list, and the same number in the Variables to Load list, clicking Combine combines the first selected variable from the Available Variables list with the first selected variable from the Variables to Load list, the second with the second, and so on.

You may not combine variables from the same file.

The variable_aliases.txt file found in the Tecplot 360 installation directory lists sets of variables that should be considered equivalent. See Custom Files loaded on Startup for information about how variable aliases are loaded.

The variable_aliases.txt file must begin with a !VA 1 line to indicate that it is a variable alias file (format version 1). On subsequent lines, the character indicates the beginning of a comment; everything following the on a line is ignored. Variable aliases are specified by listing the equivalent names on a line separated by semicolons. For example:

Variable names found in this file are case-insensitive. Excess whitespace is ignored.

When you click Apply, Tecplot 360 combines variables as indicated in variable_aliases.txt. Where two or more files contain variables whose names appear on the same line, these variables are combined, and the resulting Tecplot 360 variable is given a name containing the original variable names (as they appear in the datasets being loaded) separated by semicolons. The new variables then appear in the Variables to Load list in the dialog.

For example, if you load two files with the variables "P" and "Pressure," and the lines shown above appear in the variable_aliases.txt file, when you click Apply, these two variables appear in the Variables to Load list as a single variable called either "P;Pressure" or "Pressure;P" depending on the order in which the files were loaded.

If multiple lines in variable_aliases.txt might apply to the data sets being loaded, these conflicts are resolved based on the order in which the files are loaded. For example, if you load three files containing variables "M," "Mach," and "Mass," in that order, and variable_aliases.txt contains lines equating "M" with "Mach" and also "M" with "Mass," the resulting data set would have a variable named "M;Mach" and a second variable "Mass." Because the file containing the variable "Mach" was loaded before the file containing the variable "Mass," "M" was combined with "Mach" when that file was loaded and cannot also be combined with "Mass."

You may change the names of combined variables after loading the data by double-clicking the variable in the Data Set Information dialog (Data Set → Data Set Info).

The CGNS loader can load IJK-indexed, finite element, and polytope (polygonal/polyhedral) data, the latter denoted with NGON/NFACE sections in the data file. Polygonal sections may not be combined with sections of other types.

CGNS Boundary Conditions can be loaded for both structured and unstructured data with the exception that unstructured boundaries will only be loaded if they have corresponding sections.

Only CGNS bases and zones with valid grids can be read by the CGNS Loader. For unstructured grids, the CGNS Loader supports BAR_2, TRI_3, QUAD_4, TETRA_4, PYRA_5, PENTA_6, HEXA_8, MIXED element types and their combinations on every section. However, the CGNS Loader does not support higher-order element types. Unstructured sections that are cell-centered and have more cells than are declared in the CGNS Zone_t node will be ignored.

Only vertex and cell-centered field variable locations are supported. Cell-centered data can be read in directly or averaged to the nodes when the file is read. For cell-centered structured grids, arithmetic averaging is used. Rind data is used in the averaging if available. For cell-centered unstructured grids, either Laplacian averaging or arithmetic averaging can be selected to average the cell data to the surrounding nodes.

The CGNS Loader assigns strand IDs for zones by grouping them into time steps based on their solution times. The first zone from each time step is assigned to strand 1, the second to strand 2, and so on until all zones have been assigned to a strand. CGNS Base Names and Zone Names are converted to zone auxiliary data under the keys "CGNS.CGNSBase_t" and "CGNS.Zone_t," respectively.

For CGNS files with an HDF5 internal representation, Tecplot 360 uses HDF5 library version 1.12.0.

Zones in Tecplot 360 are not always equivalent to CGNS zones. The Load CGNS Options: Zones dialog allows you to specify zones to load from CGNS data files.

Each solution for a CGNS zone is considered a unique zone in Tecplot 360. The CGNS base (B), zone (Z), and solution (S) hierarchy orders the zones. The integer preceding the word Zone is the internal zone number assigned to that zone. The integer following Zone represents the order the zone was found in the CGNS file.

Table 3 describes the zone description listed in the dialog box. The zone description includes the CGNS hierarchy information. "CGNS B, Z, S =" followed by three integers representing the CGNS order for the base, zone, and solution, respectively. "CGNS Z, S =" and two integers are displayed if a single base is found. The description also indicates whether the zone is ordered (structured) or finite element (unstructured). I, J, and K-dimensions are provided for ordered zones; the number of nodes and elements are provided for finite element zones.

By default, all zones are selected for reading and displayed in Zones to Load. Use the Move, Move All, Remove, or Remove All buttons to edit the list.

CGNS Loader Options: Index Ranges Dialog

The Load CGNS: Index Ranges dialog allows you to specify a sub-set of the selected ordered/structured zone(s) to be loaded, or define a block, plane, or line of points for extraction on loading. To load a partial zone or sub-zone, highlight the zone of interest in Zones to Load region of the CGNS Loader: Zones dialog, and select the Index Ranges for Zone(s) button.

Each index requires Start, End, and Skip values. Start and End points are always loaded. If multiple zones are selected prior to calling up the CGNS Loader: Index Ranges dialog, "Mx" (the maximum value for each zone) is the default value for End. You may enter any value for End. However, if the value is greater than the maximum index for a zone, End is replaced by the maximum index.

For multi-dimensional zones, more than one point must be specified to load for the I and J-directions. If the inputs for Start, End, and Skip result in a single point in either direction, an error message appears.

The CGNS Loader: Variables dialog includes the Variables from CGNS and Variables to Load boxes.

The "Variables from CGNS" list includes all field variables in the CGNS data file, independent of their zone(s). The "Variables to Load" list contains the field variables that have been selected to be loaded into Tecplot 360. Initially, both lists are the same. A variable number is assigned to each CGNS field variable that appears in the "Variables to Load" list.

Because Tecplot 360 requires every zone to have the same number of variables, each zone that is loaded into Tecplot 360 will include every variable in the "Variables to Load" list (regardless of whether the zone included that field variable in the CGNS file). The variables that were not originally in the zone will be set to zero. The field variables that do not appear in the "Variables to Load" list will not have a variable number assigned to them.

Use the Move, Move All, Remove, or Remove All buttons to edit the Variables to Load list.

The syntax for loading CGNS data files with the Tecplot macro language is as follows:

Each name/value pair should be in double quotes. Refer to the Scripting Guide for details on working with the Tecplot macro language.

The syntax for loading CONVERGE CGNS data files with the Tecplot macro language is as follows:

Each name/value pair should be in double quotes.

The syntax for loading CONVERGE HDF5 data files with the Tecplot macro language is as follows:

Each name/value pair should be in double quotes.

The Load DXF File dialog has a variety of features. You can select any of the following:

The DXF Loader does not create any field data. Loading a DXF file only adds geometries to your existing frame.

Since most geometries in Tecplot 360 are 2D, best results will be obtained by loading "flat" DXF files, such as maps.

Binary AutoCAD® DWG™ are not supported in this release.

The syntax for loading EnSight data files with the Tecplot macro language is as follows:

Each name/value pair should be in double quotes. Refer to the Scripting Guide for details on working with the Tecplot macro language.

Previous versions of the EnSight loader supported options for loading a subset of the data using IJK skipping, part selection, or variable selection. These options will not generate syntax errors, so old macros will continue to work. However, IJK skipping is ignored, and part/variable selection is supported only for Ensight 6 files.

The Excel Loader will automatically identify blocks of data in Table Format or Carpet Format. The loader will list blocks of data in standard notation for Microsoft Excel. For example, a block found on worksheet sheet1, cells A1-D8, is listed as follows: (sheet1! A1:D8).

If you select a user-defined format (or if the loader did not identify any carpet or table blocks), you will be prompted to enter the names and number of variables, and one or more zones and associated properties. You will also need to enter the location of the field data in the spreadsheet for each zone.

A block of data is a rectangular group of numbers in the spreadsheet. The Excel Loader places the following restrictions on blocks:

The syntax for loading Exodus data files with the Tecplot macro language is as follows:

Each name/value pair should be in double quotes. Refer to the Scripting Guide for details on working with the Tecplot macro language.

ABAQUS Output Database files are supported on Windows only. Other ABAQUS formats are supported on all platforms.

Abaqus .odb files from older versions will be converted to the current format before being loaded through the user interface. However, this conversion will not occur automatically for files loaded with a layout file or via a macro command. To work around this, you will need to convert the older .odb file by loading it explicitly and saving the new .odb file. Then replace the file names in their layouts/macros with the new names using a text editor.

Von Mises stress data is loaded for NASTRAN data files that contain it. The FEA loader also can load both cell-centered and nodal data from NASTRAN files. This ability was added in Tecplot 360 2016 R3 and may cause macros and layouts that refer to variables by number to choose the wrong variable. A warning will appear when loading such files. To address the warning, re-create the layout or macro, or else update the style settings as necessary and change the !$READDATASET instruction in the layout or macro to include the parameter "FEALoaderVersion" "436".

FEA formats have "(FEA)" appended to the format names in the Load Data dialog. Choosing to open a selected file using the FEA loader’s advanced options displays a dialog like the one below. The dialog shown is for the ANSYS Result file format, but all formats use the same dialog (only the file format, displayed in the dialog’s title bar, differs)

By default, Tecplot 360 loads all zones and variables present in the solution file, unless multiple steps or increments are present. In this case, Tecplot 360 will not load step 0 increment 0 (which normally has no solution data associated with it). If you wish to load step 0 increment 0, or a subset of the available zones or variables, choose the "Select Zones and Variables" toggle in the main loader dialog. When you then click OK, the FEA Loader Options dialog will be displayed, as shown below:

Use the Move All, Move, Remove, and Remove All buttons to add or subtract zones or variables from the list.

The Variables page is displayed above. The Zones page displays the zone list. If you elect to subdivide zones, the zones will be subdivided in the list. The figure below shows a zone list where "Subdivide Zones by Component" has been chosen:

When you have selected the zones and variables you wish to load, select OK.

The resulting Tecplot zones for each step and increment in the file will be named accordingly in Tecplot 360, beginning with Step 1 Incr 1. The precise meanings of "Step" and "Increment" are solver and problem-dependent, but normally correspond to time steps in unsteady cases, load increments in steady-state cases, or frequencies or vibrational modes in harmonic analyses.

If you wish to add a finite element solution to data you have already loaded, select "Add to current data" set in the Load Data File Warning dialog, which appears after you have selected the file and zones and/or variables to load.

Zones from the file will be added sequentially at the end of the current zone list, and new variables, if any, will be appended to the current variable list. The new zones will not be plotted initially. To plot the appended zones, select them in the Zone Style dialog, toggle on the Zone Show checkbox, and choose Activate.

When you load an FEA solution into Tecplot 360, the FEA Post-processing dialog is displayed if Advanced Options checkbox is turned on in the initial Load Data dialog (unless you are appending to an existing solution). You may re-display it at any time by selecting "FEA Post-processing" from the Tools menu.

The three sections of this dialog allow you to: deform the plot using deformation read from the solution file, animate the deformation, and derive new variables from the solution variables.

You may also load FEA data files with the Tecplot macro language. The syntax is as follows:

The value for the DATASETREADER parameter should match the name of the loader as shown in the Select Import Format dialog, or as listed below.

Each name/value pair should be in double quotes.

The following example loads "myfile.odb" with the Abaqus Output Database loader. Zones 1 & 2 are loaded, along with the following variables: external force, stress, material ID, and part ID.

The FLOW-3D Loader Options dialog is launched when you select the "Advanced Options" toggle in the initial Load Data dialog.

The $!READDATASET macro command is extended for the FLOW-3D loader with the following options:

The following auxiliary data is added to the dataset by the loader:

Auxiliary Data can be viewed on the Aux Data Page of the Data Set Information dialog (accessed via the Data menu).

The syntax for loading FLUENT data files with the Tecplot macro language is as follows:

Each name/value pair should be in double quotes. Refer to the Scripting Guide for details on working with the Tecplot macro language.

The syntax for loading Fluent Common Fluid Files with the Tecplot macro language is as follows:

Note that the StandardSyntax 1.0 name/value pair option must be the very first instruction. All other name/value(s) options can be specified in any order.

Each name/value pair should be in double quotes. Refer to the Scripting Guide for details on working with the Tecplot macro language.

$!ReadDataset command using the "Raw String" formatting, which allows the command to be spread over multiple lines and to contain quotation marks and other characters without escaping them. Raw strings begin with R"( and end with )" allowing the string within those delimiters to contain any character that doesn’t match the closing delimiter:

The Dataset Title dialog allows you to specify options for General Text Loader titles.

The Variable Import Instructions dialog of the General Text Loader allows you to scan for the location of the variable names in the data file, and enter which variables to load.

Use the Move, Move All, Remove, or Remove All buttons to edit the "Variables to Load" list.

The Data Import Instructions dialog of the General Text Loader allows you to specify the location of the data names in the data file, and what data to load.

Use the General Filters dialog of the General Text Loader to filter the data file.

The View Options dialog of the General Text Loader allows you to specify the data display.

A configuration file contains all of the instructions that tell the General Text Loader how to load a particular type of text file. This information is collected from the dialog fields and written to a file when you click Save on the main dialog. The configuration file format is similar to the Tecplot macro language. Configuration files for the general text loader are ASCII text files which use a command set that can describe all loading instructions. Normally you do not need to edit these files, as they are automatically written by the loader when you select New on the main dialog.

One or more files may be opened if all selected files have an identical hierarchy. Hierarchy information for the selected HDF5 files is displayed in the form: /group/[group]…/dataset - the dimension of each dataset is displayed immediately following the dataset name. In this window, one or more datasets or groups may be selected for loading.

Datasets may be loaded using one of three methods: 1) Loading Multiple Datasets to One Zone (default), 2) Loading Multiple Datasets to Separate Zones, or 3) Loading Datasets by Group.

Additional options may be specified when loading HDF5 data into Tecplot 360. These options include: Using Macros, Sub-Sampling Data, Referencing Data Grids, and Grid Generation.

The HDF Loader can import only Scientific Data Sets from HDF files, and these are imported in a manner similar to NCSA’s own HDF viewer. The way in which the data file is interpreted cannot be altered in this release of the loader.

After clicking the OK button with one or more files selected, the Select Variables dialog appears. Clear All allows only variables X, Y, and Z to be loaded. You can use the Select All button to load all variables, or you can highlight variable names in the list.

Use the File Selection page of the PLOT3D Loader dialog to specify whether to load just grid files, both the grid and solution files, or just solution files. When loading grid and solution files together, either one grid file must be loaded (in which case it is assumed that all solution files use this grid), or a number of grid files equal to the number of solution files must be loaded (in which case it is assumed that there is a grid file for each solution file). If multiple grid files are loaded, all must use the same organization (binary or ASCII, etc.). Only the first file is scanned for organization.

Choosing both solution (or function) and grid files will allow you to optionally specify a name file as well. The name file contains names to replace either the solution or function variable names on a 1-to-1 basis for as many names as are in either file.

If a boundary file exists, it must have a name of the form "gridfilenamewithextension.fvbnd" and be in FieldView 1.4 format to be automatically loaded.

You may append the files being loaded to the current data set by toggling-on the Append option. The files being appended should have the same number of zones as data that has already been loaded. If some zones are static and some are transient, load the static zones and then append the transient zones.

If you are loading more than one grid file and they all have the same structure, make sure the Uniform Grid Structure option is toggled-on for best performance. If you are unsure, toggle-off this option to make sure that the data can be loaded without errors.

This page also allows you to automatically assign Strand IDs for transient zones. An option to add zones to current strands can be used if you are appending additional time steps to existing transient data. Finally, you can have new strand IDs generated for each time step if you want to manage the style of each time step’s data independently.

The Plot3D loader attempts to use numbers in filenames as solution times for transient data. Both integers and decimal fractional values are detected in filenames, and values may be negative. If multiple numeric fields are found in the data set’s filenames, the one with a unique value in each filename being loaded is taken as the solution time; if multiple such fields are found, the rightmost one is used.

The following table describes what the PLOT3D loader does in all six grid/solution scenarios:

  When loaded from the user interface, the loader attempts to extract solution times from the filenames. If the function filenames have embedded numeric values that can be interpreted as solution times, the function files will be treated as if they are solution files, otherwise the variables in the specified function files are added to the zones defined in the previously loaded solution files. When loaded from a macro, this same treatment of function files is achieved by adding the "EXTRACTTIMEFROMSOLFILENAMES" "YES" name/value pair to the loader instructions given to the $!ReadDataSet command.   

The File Structure page of the PLOT3D Loader dialog allows you to choose to have the PLOT3D Loader auto detect the file structure, or override and manually describe the structure.

The PLOT3D Loader can automatically detect most PLOT3D file variants. ASCII files are the most difficult to auto-detect as there are a few combinations that have the exact same signature. Pure binary files also have some combinations that have the same signature. You may also specify the file format manually.

To enhance performance when loading multiple solution/function files, the primary solution/function file can be chosen to represent the structure of all subsequent files. To activate this option, toggle-on "Assume all Solution/Function Files have the same structure". You must determine if this is appropriate.